Minneapolis MayDay Parade & Festival

By Amanda Fretheim Gates

Published: April 2012

In elementary school, we celebrated May Day (May 1) by making May baskets that we could leave on our neighbor’s doorsteps; there may also have been a maypole involved once. What started out as a Celtic, pagan festival centuries ago is now commonly a celebration of spring, particularly in the Northern Hemisphere. Our local MayDay Festival is 38 years strong and takes place this weekend (Sunday, May 6), and it's so much more than maypoles and May baskets.

Volunteers and members of HOBT work tirelessly starting in February to bring an event and parade that wows, creating a story and building spectacular puppets from water, flour, newspaper, and paint. The parade moves down Bloomington Avenue (starting at 25th Street East at 1 p.m.) in South Minneapolis, telling the year’s story through music, dancing, and giant puppets. The parade ends at Powderhorn Park, where a pageant retells the story through live music, a stunning flotilla (Spanish word for fleet of ships) moving across the lake, and an ending ceremony. The day ends with a festival filled with food, live music, dancing, poetry, canoe rides, and more. Keeping with the theme, one of the stages will be powered by solar energy, food will be compostable, fountains will provide free water for drinking, and there will be opportunities to learn about Minneapolis’ sustainable efforts.

The event is very family friendly and accessible to all, with a tactile tour for visually impaired attendees and ASL interpreters for the hearing impaired.

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